The music video for “Wildflowers” by Americana duo Hound Heart premieres today, just as Colorado’s alpine blossoms lazily shed their petals in the high country. While the band’s members — Alli Mac and Isaac Friend — are not native to Denver, it is here where their sound flourished into its raw and distinct expression (now pressed and preserved in the form of their self-titled EP, released this March.)
Before coming to Denver, Hound Heart was “Isaac and Alli”, and they cut their teeth as songwriters and performers in Richmond, Virginia. Mac often joined Friend’s band, Lady Empire, as a vocalist, and in the time between performances, they fine-tuned their sound as a duo. In the summer of 2018, they migrated to Denver to sow their seeds in the fertile, rapidly expanding turf of the Denver music scene. Though nonnative, the natural beauty of Heart and Hound’s sound seamlessly intertwines with and encapsulates Colorado’s atmosphere.
Photo by Tori Mercedes Ware
To direct the music video for “Wildflowers”, the third track off their EP, Hound Heart appointed local video producer Cole Mitchek. He shot and edited the video in his signature visual style — vintage black and white with modern school bus yellow accents. Mitchek cites Charlie Chaplin and François Truffaut as inspirations for his work, which explains many of his stylistic choices, including the ‘fin’ at the music video’s end.
Yet the video captures the spirit of Hound Heart as much as it does Mitchek. The visual’s steady, almost ritualistic pace falls in step with the beat of the song while nodding to Heart and Hound’s old routine of nightly performances back in Richmond (which they gave both in music venues and in the hallway of Friend’s apartment building).
Photo by Daniel Amimoto
All of the content for the “Wildflowers” visual is footage from the band’s performance at the Lost Lake Lounge in Denver’s Bluebird District on July 19. A concert is a perfect setting (and subject) for this music video for several reasons, firstly because it matches the band’s visual brand. It is near impossible to find a photo of the duo on their website or Facebook page that is not of them performing. Nevermind Richmond or Denver, the video captures the Hound Heart in their true native environment — the stage.
Mitchek’s minimalistic, no-frills shooting style also complements Hound Heart’s stripped-down, authentic sound. In “Wildflowers”, the band relies on harmonized vocals and acoustic guitar alone. The risk of such spartan music-making is that there are no bells and whistles to disguise flaws. The reward — which Hound Heart clearly reaps — is the opportunity to expose lyrical and technical perfection.
Check out the new music video below:
